


You've Got My Motor Running

by nam_junes



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Motorcycles, characters and tags to be added as i get to them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25008622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nam_junes/pseuds/nam_junes
Summary: Catra, an auto mechanic, moves to a new city to get a fresh start.Adora, a junior in college, drives a 14 year old hand-me-down Toyota.---yuh yuh self-indulgent southwestern catradora fic with motorcycles
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

Catra took one step outside before immediately going back in. Last night she was comforted by the gentle sound of rain as she went to bed, but all that rain had begun to turn to humidity now that the sun was up. She grumbled about not being able to have her morning cigarette while trying to fix her hair, and slumped onto the couch. The clock read 11:42. She had roughly 6 hours before she had to go to work. Sitting up straight, she took a deep breath. _I get off work at midnight._

Since it was her Friday, and she’d already done a lot of cleaning this week, Catra decided to spend the afternoon lounging around playing Fortnite. Despite the game having plenty of add-ons and play modes, Catra just stuck to the default skin and played solo; she only knew how to pick up guns, hide, and shoot other people. Call it unskilled, but she still wins every match.

As the afternoon rolled by, it was soon 5:15. Catra got up to throw on her jumpsuit and work boots, put her hair in a low ponytail, and grabbed her helmet. It still felt like a sauna outside, which almost made Catra wish she had a car. Motorcycles were fun when the weather was nice, but days like this were a pain in the ass.

It had been about an hour and a half since their last customer, which was just an oil change. There’s not much business for a 24-hour auto mechanic in the middle of the night, after all. Leaning against the front counter, Catra subtly looked at the clock for the millionth time this hour. 11:56. Technically she could leave now due to rounding, but something in her wants to stay until midnight. Graduation goggles maybe? She glances at her only coworker, Kyle. _Nah, I’m definitely not gonna miss this place._ She likes mechanic work, but not this particular mechanic shop. She looks again. Eleven fifty nine and twenty seconds. She closes her eyes for what feels like an eternity. When she opens them, a smile spreads across her face. Wordlessly, she grabs her timecard and clocks out.

“I’ll see you around, Catra!” Kyle waves to her.

Catra chuckles inwardly. _Guess he hasn’t seen next week’s schedule_. “Yeah, I’ll see you.”

The ride home was way more fun that the ride to work. At midnight, most of the roads in this town were empty, so Catra could go as fast as she wanted. Normally after work she’d be racing around to get food and go sightseeing, but tonight she just wanted to get home and go to sleep. She had a long day ahead of her.

Catra screamed a little when her alarm woke her up. She’d gotten so used to sleeping in until noon that the blaring sound of the alarm felt like a personal attack against her. It didn’t help that her alarm sound was an airstrike siren, but then again that would have been the only thing able to wake her up at 7 am.

She trudged into the shower, almost allowing the hot water to lull her back to sleep right in the tub. Her body may have been tired, but there was still a buzz of anticipation floating over her skin. As she let the conditioner set in her hair, she did some squats to warm up.

And then of course her cheap apartment ran out of hot water.

Post-shower, Catra didn’t really have much to prepare for the day. She looked around her studio apartment. It was entirely empty, save for the couch she slept on. A backpack filled with her personal belongings sat on the kitchen counter, but that was all she needed. Today she was leaving this town. She needed a fresh start, in a city that wasn’t filled with shitty homophobic losers who peaked in high school. Away from her family. Away from the disgusting humidity, too. Catra couldn’t bring herself to move to a colder climate, but she at least wanted to live somewhere that didn’t make it feel like she was drowning just by breathing outdoors.

It was going to be a thirty hour long drive, so Catra made sure to eat a filling breakfast that morning (microwave lasagna). She slung her bag over her shoulder, turned off the lights, and locked her front door for the final time. After a stop by the front office to drop her keys off, she took one last look at her apartment complex. _Won’t miss it._

The drive was almost therapeutic, despite Catra’s bike being blown around from the wind off semi-trucks often. It felt like she was moving forward for once, in some kind of metaphorical way. She watched as her home town got farther and farther away on her GPS, until it eventually disappeared. She smiled softly, and shortly after went to a rest stop for lunch.

By nightfall, Catra had made it a little over halfway there. She decided to stop at a motel for the night to continue in the morning. Although she preferred driving at night, her muscles were exhausted after the long day on the road. She’d have plenty of time to explore her new city at night when she got there.

The next morning went by much faster, mostly because Catra was no longer constantly checking the map to see how far she had gotten. After all, there’s no point checking now that it was nothing but a single straight road through endless desert. Speaking of which, this was the most stereotypical desert Catra could have imagined. Orange sand, cacti, tumbleweeds, even a hitchhiker up ahead. _A hitchhiker?_

As Catra got closer to the hitchhiker, she debated whether to stop or not. She was on a motorcycle, who was to say they even wanted a ride from her? What if they had luggage? She didn’t have a second helmet, either. Nonetheless, they seemed to be eagerly waving to her, the only vehicle on the road. She pulled up in front of them and cut her engine off, the sound leaving a buzz in her ears. Taking off her helmet, she looked them up and down: they were about her age, slender, with long straight hair dyed the same shade of green as their eyes. Catra could appreciate the aesthetic of wearing a full black outfit in the middle of the desert, but also wondered how they made it this far alive.

“Wow, sick ride you’ve got. Think you could give me a lift?” They asked, running their hands over the handlebars.

Catra swatted their hands away when they touched the throttle. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, my apologies. I’m DT. And you?”

“Catra. Where are you headed?”

“El Paso, if you’re going that far.” It was about two hours from here, and happened to be on the way, so Catra figured she could take them.

“Hop on. I don’t have a second helmet, though.”

When they arrived at El Paso, DT guided Catra to a local diner where they stopped to have lunch. As they ate, the two of them really got to know each other. Catra was at first reluctant to open up to DT, but the more she learned about them, the more comfortable she felt. DT was an aspiring fashion designer. They didn’t go to college for fashion, or have any experience in the fashion industry, but they knew how to operate a sewing machine and “ _clearly_ have a good eye for fashion.” Currently, they were travelling around Texas to get inspired by cowboy subcultures for their next project. Catra told them how she was a mechanic, not really travelling to sightsee but just trying to get to Tempe, her new home. When Catra said she was leaving her old town to escape from the people there, DT looked at her sympathetically and put their hand over hers. “I know how that feels. Just know it’s all uphill from here.”

The check came and DT insisted on paying for the both of them, laying a twenty dollar bill on the receipt. They exchanged numbers, and DT promised to visit Catra if they ever stopped in Tempe. They went their separate ways at the door, with DT heading towards downtown and Catra getting back on her bike. It was another 6 hours to Tempe, which would be a cakewalk for Catra. Donning her sunglasses, she headed for the interstate again.

As soon as she entered the city limits, she began trying to memorize street names and landmarks so she could know her way better. It didn’t take long for her to find her new apartment. It was on the outskirts of downtown, nestled between the suburbs and the local university. The key was under the doormat, as the landlord said it would be. Catra let herself in, taking care to leave her shoes at the entrance. Her new apartment came furnished, which was a blessing since she’d never owned furniture of her own other than a single couch before. She took a shower to clean the layer of dust and sand off herself, and ordered pizza delivery. As she waited, she began unpacking her bag. The apartment barely looked any different with her stuff spread out; all she had was 4 outfits, a gaming console, and a bag of toiletries. She made a mental note to go shopping tomorrow.

When the pizza arrived, she opened the door, wallet in hand. As she paid the pizza boy, she noticed a small slip of paper in the back of her wallet. Carrying the pizza, she sat at the coffee table and reexamined her wallet. It was a scrap of notebook paper, with “Thanks for lunch! I’ll cover next time ;)” written messily. Catra squinted. She recounted the bills in her wallet, and just as she had suspected, one of her twenty dollar bills was missing. She chuckled to herself. It may have been an annoyance losing $20, but it was probably the best case scenario from picking up a suspicious looking hitchhiker in the middle of the desert anyway.

With that, she headed to her bed to lie down. It was already 9 pm. She didn’t have any concrete plans for the next day (or week), just getting to know the city, shopping and job hunting. Even with no direction for her immediate future, this was the most secure that Catra had felt in a long time. Her bed was unbelievably soft and warm, and before she knew it she fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO  
> idk how to describe this fic. It's like a college au, but like? college-age au, since Catra is a full time mechanic. Also a lot of college au's assume the characters all live in on-campus dorms and go to parties all the time, but I'm basing this fic around my own experiences as a (poor) young adult, which is a lot less glamorous lol.  
> I have no idea how long this fic will be, but by what I've got in my outline, it's probably going to be upwards of 30-40k. This is the first time I've written a fic longer than 5k, so bear with me ^^;


	2. Chapter 2

Adora woke up at 7 am, as she did every Monday morning. Her schedule is like clockwork: breakfast, shower, brush teeth, get dressed, take the city bus to school. That’s how it’s been since she started college; unlike other high school graduates she was careful not to let the freedom of class times destroy her sleep schedule. But today the clock got a little upgrade: her brother had just gotten a promotion and celebrated by buying himself a new car, which allowed him to give his old one to Adora.

Despite it being a 2006 Toyota Corolla, Adora was in love with it. After three years on the city bus, this junky car was her savior. She could blast her music as loud as she wanted, make stops to get food, and still get to campus quicker than a bus. She didn’t even have any classes today, but she always came to study at the library with Bow and Glimmer, followed by them grabbing dinner together.

Adora decided to get smoothies to celebrate her new car. Pulling up to the smoothie shop’s drive through menu, she ordered three smoothies: her, Bow, and Glimmer’s usual.

“$16.47 is your total, ma’am,” said the cashier at the window. Adora fumbled for her wallet for a minute before handing a $20 to the cashier, and right as she was reaching for the smoothies, her car’s engine slowly got quieter and quieter until it shut off. The cashier stood waiting with the smoothies in hand as Adora tried to start her car again, which it eventually did on the fourth try. She took her change, pulled up to the next window to grab the smoothies, and then got back on the road.

“I’m here! Sorry I’m late,” Adora said as she set the smoothies down on the table. She was only about 5 minutes late to the study session, but knowing Adora, that probably felt like 30 minutes to her.

Glimmer and Adora immediately looked at her with a shine in their eyes. “Can we see your new car?” They asked in unison. They heard about her new car days ago when she told them in the group chat, and they’ve been anticipating this moment ever since.

“After we get ready for this test, we only have two days left and we still need to cover 3 more chapters,” Adora reasoned, although she too wanted to drive around some more. _Work before play_ , she reminded herself.

It took until 7 pm, but they finally finished studying all of the material on the test. Bow and Glimmer practically sprinted to the parking garage to see Adora’s car, but she dragged her feet a little, still worried about what happened at the smoothie shop that morning.

They made it to their usual pizza joint without breaking down once, although Bow did seem a little concerned about the thumping noise that persisted the whole drive. “I’m going to take it to a mechanic first thing in the morning,” Adora promised. She sighed at the prospect of having to take the city bus again, but at least it was only for a short period of time. In the meantime, she focused on just enjoying her dinner.

* * *

Catra had only been at her new job for three hours and she was already over it. The only mechanic job she could find was a position for the morning shift at a place near the university. She tried to convince herself that a 7-3 shift would be nice since she could have the evening to herself, but having to wake up BEFORE 7 just to get to work was whooping her ass.

At the very least, this shop was a little nicer than her last one. Being close to the university meant a younger crowd, one that wasn’t always condescending towards a young female mechanic. They had free coffee in the lounge (for the customers, but Catra would just wait until her manager wasn’t looking to take some. Can’t pass up anything free, especially when it comes with flavored creamer).

Two hours and three cups of coffee into her shift, a bright-eyed college student came in with a corolla that could almost be older than her.

“Hey, I don’t know what’s actually wrong with my car, but it shut off while I was in a drive through and has this weird thumping noise,” she explained to Catra.

 _Gee, that’s specific_ , Catra lamented. “We’ll have to perform a diagnostic on it to see what’s wrong, it might take a couple of days to fix. Are you cool with leaving it here for a while?” The girl nodded quickly, and Catra handed her a clipboard to fill out her contact information. As she filled it out, Catra went to the other end of the counter to get another cup of coffee. Taking a sip, she read the clipboard that the girl finished filling out.

 _Adora_. That’s the name that the girl wrote down. _Her parents were spot on with their choice of name_ , Catra thought. She definitely had an adorable look, with her hair in a high ponytail and both of her backpack straps on. And her face was kind of-

“So will you guys call me when it’s ready?” Adora asked, unaware of Catra’s internal dialogue.

“Y-yeah, we’ll also call you as soon as we know what’s wrong with it so we can give you an estimate.” Catra responded, rubbing the back of her head.

“Okay, thank you!” Adora smiled, and walked out of the shop. Catra watched her through the window as she walked to the bus stop up the street. She downed the last of her coffee, and went to the parking lot to pull Adora’s car in to start the diagnostic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so short and that i took forever but the next chapter's gonna be longer!! my life got kind of hectic but I'm going to try to write as much as possible in the following week


	3. Chapter 3

Upon inspection of Adora’s car, Catra felt both pity and annoyance for her. Pity because there were so many things needing to be fixed with this car, and annoyance that she could possibly let so many issues pile up. Catra called her that evening.

“Hey, is this Adora?”

“This is, who’s speaking?”

“It’s Catra from the mechanic shop. So there’s actually several things that need to be fixed, but the good news is that only one of them needs to be fixed immediately. You’ve got a hole in your fuel line, and that’s probably what caused your engine to stall when parked. It’s a relatively easy fix, so it’ll only be about $60. You also need to change your fan belt, clean the carburetor, and replace the oil, oil filter, air filter and spark plugs. Those will total to about $400.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a minute. “Okay, so I guess I’ll just do the fuel line for now. How soon do I need to do the other things?”

Catra felt a pang of sympathy at that. “I’d say we could do it over a span of 6 months, like one thing each month.”

“Yeah, that could work. Thanks so much."

“No problem. It should be done by 2 tomorrow.”

“What’s up?” Bow asked. The call came during another study session at Glimmer’s dorm.

“Just got word from the mechanic that there’s a ton of work needing to be done. It’s gonna be spread out over half a year.” Adora laid her head on the table and sighed. She pulled up her budget spreadsheet and started to add in the monthly cost of the repairs, as well as the cost of a bus pass. She had some money saved for emergencies, so luckily it wouldn’t cut too much out of her paycheck.

“At least it means you get to spend more time with that cute mechanic, huh?” Glimmer said with a smirk on her face.

“Shut up! I didn’t say she was cute!” Adora stammered, a blush creeping across her face.

“You didn’t need to say it, we can tell that you think she’s cute because of how long you spent talking about her,” Bow pointed out. “You even went in depth on how ‘unique and beautiful’ her eyes were.”

“She has heterochromia! It is unique and beautiful! And I was just talking about her a lot because it’s rare to see a female mechanic!”

“Calling another woman’s eyes beautiful? That’s gay as fuck,” Glimmer said glancing up from her computer. “Come on. The test is tomorrow morning and we need to review one last time.”

* * *

Adora came into the shop about 30 minutes before Catra’s shift ended.

“Hey, Toyota Corolla right?” Catra asked, reaching for the key on the hook. She only asked out of customer service habit, of course she remembered what kind of car Adora had.

“Yeah. Thanks so much, I brought you guys some donuts.” Adora set a half dozen box of assorted donuts on the counter and took her keys. Catra rang her up while eating a cinnamon powdered donut. Scorpia came to the front to grab a donut when Adora was leaving. Catra liked Scorpia; she was this gentle giant who worked the mid shift and was extremely chipper all the time. She was kind of a foil to Catra’s usual aloofness, but they came to understand each other’s ways. Plus, Scorpia played fortnite too, and Catra was so pumped to be able to play duos.

Over the next few months, Adora brought her car in to fix one thing at a time. First the fan belt, then the carburetor, then the oil filter. Catra did the oil change for free at the same time as changing the filter, as a thanks for Adora bringing donuts every time she picked up her car. She noticed that Adora put more cinnamon powdered donuts than usual the fourth time. She smiled when she saw it, and Adora mentioned how she saw that Catra liked them the most.

One day, Catra came home to a familiar face outside her apartment. DT sat on top of two duffle bags, her back against Catra’s door. They smiled as Catra walked up to the door.

“You owe me 20 bucks,” Catra said, unlocking the door over DT’s head. She swung the door in, causing DT to fall backwards.

DT stood up, grabbing their duffle bags and walking in after Catra. “I can pay you back now,” they said, opening one of the bags. “I also made you some presents!” They handed Catra a stack of clothes, with a $20 bill placed on top. Catra unfolded the clothes one by one and looked at them. They had DT’s logo on the tags; they must have been handmade.

“What do you think?” DT asked, looking over Catra’s shoulder. They were pretty good, DT had managed to match her sense of style pretty well for someone who only saw Catra in one outfit. There were a few… interesting stylistic choices, like the tassels along the back and sleeves of a jacket, and spurs on the boots.

“Actually pretty good. You made these all by yourself?” Catra was thoroughly impressed.

“Yep! And just wait a couple years, when my career really takes off, they’ll be priceless. This is part of my third ever collection.” DT sat on the couch. “Hey, I was wondering, do you think I could crash here for a few weeks? I’m in talks with a few boutiques in this town, and haven’t gotten a place to stay yet.”

Scorpia came over when she got off work that evening, as she and Catra planned to order pizza and play duos. Catra introduced DT and Scorpia to each other, and Scorpia was surprisingly unsurprised that Catra was letting a hitchhiker (who somehow tracked Catra down months later) crash at her place. Scorpia was her usual friendly self, which DT mirrored.

“So, now that you’re settled in and made some friends, have you been working on your love life?” DT asked.

“Not much, I haven’t seen much of the bar life yet,” Catra replied.

“What about Adora?” Scorpia chimed in.

“Ooh, who’s Adora?” DT’s eyes lit up. As Catra started to say “nobody, just a customer at the shop,” Scorpia steamrolled her with an explanation of how Catra acts like Adora is just some regular, but she gave her a free oil change, she looks at her so fondly, and always blushes a little when their hands brush as they swap the keys. “She’s definitely got some kind of feelings for Adora,” Scorpia concluded.

“I don’t have feelings for her, I have feelings for the cinnamon powdered donuts she brings me. I don’t fall for straight girls.” Catra crossed her arms.

“What makes you think she’s straight?” Scorpia asked.

“I mean, she kinda gives off horse girl vibes. I figure that’s enough evidence that she’s straight.” Catra took a bite out of her pizza.

“When is she coming by next? I want to see what she looks like.” DT asked.

“Tomorrow, actually. She dropped her car off this morning to get the air filter fixed, and it should be done by tomorrow afternoon.” Scorpia offered up the information before Catra could question if she wanted DT in her shop. “Don’t you dare talk to her or do anything shifty in my shop,” Catra added.

* * *

Around 1:30, DT came into the store, acting like any other customer who didn’t know Catra personally. They poured themselves a cup of coffee and headed to the register to buy a single air freshener. “You said she drives an old red Toyota? You mean the one with the lesbian flag on the bumper?”

Catra choked on her coffee when DT said that. She climbed over the counter and looked out the window to the parking lot, where she could in fact see that Adora’s car had a lesbian flag sticker on the bumper.

“How did you not notice?” DT asked.

Catra shrugged. “All the issues with her car are under the hood, I haven’t had to look at the back.”

Scorpia shot her a questioning look. “Aren’t you supposed to do an inspection of every car to see that all the lights are working? Does that mean you haven’t been checking the back lights?”

Catra laughed nervously and glanced away. “I’ll check it this time, I just forgot last time.”

“The last 4 times,” Scorpia corrected.

Adora walked into the shop about 10 minutes later. DT was still roaming around the shelves, pretending to be browsing the air fresheners again. When she told Scorpia she was here for the Toyota corolla, DT pointed at her questioningly. Catra pretended not to notice and took over ringing up Adora while Scorpia moved out of Adora’s line of sight and nodded furiously while beaming.

Just their presence made Catra embarrassed the whole time she was talking to Adora. _It’s just them that’s making me nervous, I’d be a lot more composed if they weren’t making a scene,_ she thought.

As usual, Adora gave them a half dozen donuts before leaving.

“So we know she’s gay, when are you going to make a move?” DT asked, grabbing a glazed donut from the box.

“I don’t- I don’t know, I need some time to think about it,” Catra responded. She definitely thought Adora was cute, and now knew she was gay, but what if she had a girlfriend? What if she wasn’t into Catra? “I’ll have to read the room some more.”

“I could read the room, and the room says she’s into you too. Anyways, I’ll be on my way, I have a meeting with Bright Moon Boutique downtown. See you when you get home!” With that, DT left. Catra was left wondering if Adora could really be into her too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeh might as well post two chapters in a day since i didn't update in a month and a half lol


	4. Chapter 4

After a few weeks, DT had sold the two duffle bags full of clothes to different boutiques in town, each with their contact information attached. The day that they were leaving, Catra and Scorpia decided to take them out to brunch. Catra swapped shifts with the closer, and Scorpia pushed her hours back a little so they could have time in the morning.

“I’m really gonna miss you guys,” DT slurred after their fourth mimosa.

“You’re welcome back any time,” Catra reassured them.

“Where are you headed next?” Scorpia asked.

“To the Pacific Northwest, see what those lumberjacks are wearing up there,” DT responded. “Fall’s over, and I think I want to try somewhere cold for Winter. I hear Portland’s pretty gay, maybe you should visit me sometime?”

“Yeah, I’ll take a thousand mile trip up North in the Winter on a Honda Grom,” Catra scoffed.

DT’s eyes glinted. “You could take the trip in the safety of a sedan, maybe in the passenger seat of a certain Toyota Corrolla?” They leaned forward, taking a sip of their mimosa.

“Check please!” Catra called to the waitress. 

* * *

When Adora came in to get her spark plugs replaced, Catra wasn’t there as usual. Behind the counter was an older looking man who didn’t look nearly as friendly as Catra.

“Hey, I need to get my spark plugs replaced,” Adora said as she set her keys on the counter. As the mechanic picked them up and asked for her information, she glanced behind his back. He looked at her as if to ask if she needed anything else. “Is Catra here? She’s normally the one that works on my car.”

“She switched shifts today so she’ll be here in the evening. I can wait for Catra to do your repairs, if you’d like. It might take an extra day to get it back to you, though.”

Adora considered it for a minute. She really felt like she trusted Catra with her car the most, but she also didn’t want to go an extra day without her car. Ultimately, she decided to wait for Catra.

“Yeah, that sounds good, thanks.” She finished filling out the paperwork and went on her way. Shortly after she got on the bus, she received a text.

[10:04 am] Glimmer: _Do you want Bow and I to take you to the mechanic to pick up your car tonight?_

[10:06 am] Adora: _Actually they said it would take an extra day so can you help me tomorrow?_

[10:07 am] Glimmer: _Yea sure_

[10:17 am] Bow: _Wait they said it would take an extra day to…change the spark plugs?_

[10:18 am] Adora: _Well actually it could have been done today but Catra wasn’t there and the guy said that I could wait until she gets back to fix it._

[10:20 am] Bow: _Why do you need Catra specifically to fix your car_

[10:21 am] Adora: _I didn’t ask for it specifically!!! I just said yea to whatever he suggested!!_

[10:23 am] Glimmer: _Let us know when the wedding is_ 😘

* * *

“Hey ‘Dak, thanks for covering for me,” Catra playfully punched him in the shoulder when she clocked in. He immediately clocked out after, ready to leave. “Morning shifts are hell, you owe me. Also, your girl came by to drop off her car.”

Catra tried to say “She’s not my girl,” but her coworker had already left. She looked at the list of clients for the day: fan belt replacement, tail light, and Adora’s spark plugs. She would definitely be able to finish all three of them within a day. She was tempted to fix Adora’s first, but she knew that she’d be in serious trouble if she delayed the earlier clients because she liked another one more. She resolved to work as fast as possible in order to make sure Adora’s car got done that day.

* * *

Around 6 pm, Adora received a phone call from the mechanic.

“Hey, Adora? Your car is ready. We close in an hour, so if you’re busy now then you can pick it up in the morning,” Catra’s voice crackled across the line.

Adora was surprised; the guy in the morning said it wouldn’t be done until the next day. Of course Catra would be able to finish it in the same day though. That’s why she trusts Catra with her bike, she’s reliable.

She had just finished a study session with Bow and Glimmer, and was halfway home on the city bus. Luckily she hadn’t passed the mechanic yet; but she was still a fair few stops away. She managed to make it to the shop just 10 minutes before they closed. As usual, Catra was behind the counter; but Adora still stopped and appreciated the way the evening sky allowed her to see Catra’s face in a different light than morning typically does.

“Hey, I heard my car was done. Thanks so much for getting it finished today!” Adora beamed at Catra. “Sorry, I didn’t bring any donuts this time because I had to take the city bus.”

“It’s cool, no problem! Spark plug’s an easy fix too,” Catra rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. She grabbed the keys from the board behind the counter and handed them to Adora.

Adora walked back to her car in the parking lot, climbed in, and turned the car on. The engine skipped a few times, unlike the previous weird noises it had made before. She grumbled, trying to turn the key multiple times, just to hear the same skipping noise. As she started to walk back towards the entrance, she saw Catra come out and lock the front door. _Shit, they’re closed._ Unsure of what to do, she stood on the sidewalk, frozen. When Catra turned around and saw her, she asked, “is something wrong?”

“My car’s not starting, I’m not sure why,” Adora said, pointing her toes inward and looking sideways to her car. Catra felt a pang of guilt. She remembered rushing to complete all of the repairs today. _Was I going too fast and messed up?_

“Let me take a look.” Catra popped the hood and checked the spark plugs. They looked fine, so it must not be the problem. She took the keys from Adora and tried starting the engine. Upon hearing the skipping noise, she looked at Adora and said “your battery’s dead.” Catra figured it must have died because of the change in spark plugs; the battery was probably just as old as the car itself and died when better spark plugs were put in. Adora deflated.

“We don’t have batteries in stock, but we can order you one and have it fixed in two days,” Catra tried to reassure her.

Adora sighed, then tried to force a smile. “Yeah, that’s alright. It’s the weekend anyways, so at least I don’t have to take the bus to school.” She pulled out her phone and opened a ride sharing app. “Thanks for everything, I know I’m probably holding you up after your shift ended,” she mumbled.

“Hey, do you need a ride home? I’m in no rush,” Catra offered.

Adora looked up at her. She’d never been in a stranger’s car, but then again, she kind of knew Catra… She decided to just go for it, they’d spoken so many times they basically knew each other. She figured she should find a way to say thanks for the ride home, too.

“Did you have anything planned right now? If you’re free, maybe we could stop somewhere and I could get us dinner as a thanks for giving me a ride home,” Adora asked tentatively.

Catra was lucky for the fact that they were in a dim parking lot, so that Adora couldn’t see the way she blushed. “Y-yeah, sure. Thanks,” Catra replied, rubbing the back of her head again. “Oh, by the way, you’re cool with riding a motorcycle, right? I don’t have an actual car.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fjdkshjls i haven't updated in so long,,,,, physics 2 is kicking my ass y'all  
> i was going to make this chapter longer and include the scene where they get pizza, but i figured i'd at least post what i have saved so i can keep writing without keeping yall waiting  
> after like 2 more weeks i should start updating more frequently tho!!!


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